Lee, Mount Vernon, Gunston, Hollin Hall and Van Dorn — all five names could change in the coming months due to their association with the area's Confederate and slave-holding history.
Fairfax County is evaluating whether or not to rename some of its magisterial districts and voting precincts. Since mid-January, the Redistricting Advisory Committee has been considering district names and recommended that five districts and 10 voting precincts need "further evaluation." The list includes the Lee and Mount Vernon Districts and the Gunston, Hollin Hall and Van Dorn Precincts.
District and precinct names are being evaluated based on seven different criteria such as if the name is offensive, related to the area’s Confederate past or associated with segregation, racism or slave ownership.
Mount Vernon is named after the home of George Washington, the Revolutionary War general and first President of the United States, who owned slaves. It is not clear which member of the Lee family that Lee District is named after, but the name is often associated with Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
Gunston and Hollin Hall were the names of plantations owned by the family of George Mason, a contemporary of Washington who was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and author of the Bill of Rights. These properties relied on slave labor. Earl Van Dorn was a Confederate general.
Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell, who represents Virginia’s 36th district, opposes changing the names of Mount Vernon District and Hollin Hall Precinct. He wrote a letter to the Redistricting Advisory Committee dated Jan. 28 arguing that residents are not asking for the name changes and that “the names of Mount Vernon and Hollin Hall are accepted, pervasive and a source of identity and pride in our community.” He also questioned the cost associated with the name changes.
Discussions from previous committee meetings indicate that Mount Vernon and Hollin Hall names will likely not be recommended for change. Instead the committee is focused on names associated with the Confederacy like Lee and Van Dorn. Summaries from past meetings can be found here.
County residents are encouraged to share their opinions on the renaming by sending an email to the committee (redistricting@fairfaxcounty.gov), submitting comments online, writing a letter to the Department of Clerk Services at 12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 552, Fairfax, VA 22035 or calling the office at 703-324-3151, TTY 711. Residents can also testify at one of the committee’s virtual meetings. The next meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. Information on attending the meeting can be found here.
The committee will finalize its recommendations by March 1 and will submit them to the Board of Supervisors. The Board of Supervisors will then decide if and how to make any name changes based on the committee’s recommendations.
